大象传媒

Women in Engineering: Here are a few of the coolest jobs around

Media caption,

Ayshah heads to The Big Bang Fair

If you love coming up with ideas or building things then maybe a career in engineering could be just right for you!

Tuesday 23 June is International Women in Engineering Day, appreciating all the amazing things female engineers have done and supporting anyone who might want to be an engineer in the future.

This year's theme is #ShapeTheWorld which looks at how engineers shape the world and help make our planet a better, safer, more innovative and exciting place to be.

Boys have more positive views of engineering than girls when they're in primary school, and in the UK, only 1 in 12 engineers are women.

But the people in charge want to change the view of engineering as a "male industry".

What is engineering?

Engineering is using science and maths to solve problems, by figuring out how things work and coming up with inventive solutions.

It's often divided up into 4 areas: civil, mechanical, electrical and chemical engineering.

They say having lots of ideas from different people really makes a difference to the kind of creations engineers can come up with.

As an engineer, you could end up making something incredible. For example, artificial limbs for injured and disabled people, 3D games consoles, or even making spacecrafts heading to the Moon or Mars.

Here are just a few of the jobs engineers can do...

Designing roller coasters

Civil engineer Michelle designs roller coasters, including the ones at Chessington World of Adventures.

She decided she wanted a career in engineering when she was 14, when she found out she could get a job that related to her passion for theme parks.

Media caption,

We meet the woman who designs roller coasters

Newsround took four young people to meet her, and she was asked what it was like to be one of the few female engineers in a industry.

She said: "I think the really great thing about engineering is that you can do it regardless of your gender, so it's all about being sure of what you know and being confident.

"Then if you're interested in engineering you should just go for it."

Michelle's advice for getting into engineering
  • Study maths and science at school

  • After that you can go onto study for a degree or do an apprenticeship depending on what appeals to you more.

Designing games

Gaming engineers are specialized software engineers who design and program video games.

They work with teams of developers on the entire process of creating a video game.

Engineers are responsible for creating coding sequences to create game play, and may need to create multiple codes for different gaming devices.

Media caption,

WATCH: Alex meets the girls making games for themselves

Some statistics have suggested that women make up only 19% of the people making and designing video games.

But many companies have tried to encourage more women to get involved by going into schools and launching competitions like Cyber first and Digital Schoolhouse Esports.

Becoming an astronaut

Last year astronaut Christina Koch broke the record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman.

She also made history along with fellow astronaut Jessica, by becoming the first astronauts to take part in an all-female spacewalk.

Media caption,

Space: Nasa's female astronauts talk about spacewalks, inspiration and a Moon trip

Christina is an engineer who grew up in Jacksonville in the United States, and studied Science and Electrical Engineering and Physics at university.

Engineering is pretty important in the space world. To become a Nasa astronaut you need to have a Master's degree in a Science Technology Engineering or Maths (STEM) subject.

Making chocolate

You'd be surprised how much science and engineering goes into making sweets and chocolate.

Food engineering looks at things like how to keep food fresh from when it's created until it gets to the customer.

Media caption,

Nel visits a chocolate factory

Then there are other important questions to tackle, like "how big should the cookie dough chunks in your ice cream be?" Maths and engineering can help with that.

Technology and engineering are also needed for making the temperature sensors and other technology used in the industrial side of candy and food creation.

Becoming an inventor

Media caption,

What is an invention?

Inventing can mean coming up with a completely new idea, or changing something that already exists to make it work in a better way.

There a lots of ways engineering can help with this, particularly when advances in technology mean something can be done more effectively or efficiently than in the past, improving our everyday lives.

Cyber-security

Security engineers are people who protect computer and networking systems from possible hackers and cyber-attacks.

Media caption,

Can these girls beat the hackers in the cyber-security challenge?

Only 11% of cyber-security specialists are women, but this is something the National Cyber Security Centre hopes to change.

These girls took part in a competition, putting their cyber-security skills to the test against schools across the country.

Organisers say they want to see more girls following a career in cyber-security, computers and coding.

The Girls Scouts of America even have a very special cyber-security badge.